On The Radar: July 2025

#07 of On The Radar: friendship breakups, AI opinions, and what I’m consuming this month

Jul 01, 2025

I can’t believe I’m actually getting this newsletter out on time! I feel like the past month has flown by. I’m on deadline (July 9th!!), have been traveling, watching Love Island (it’s literally a full time job) and working on getting my latest venture, Hot Girls Who Write, off the ground. All of that to say, it’s been a busy summer so far!

Here’s what’s On The Radar this month:

What I’m consuming (books, TV, music)
Revealing a core theme in How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle
My thoughts on AI in publishing
Hot Girls Who Write is thriving (and you’re invited!)

What I’m consuming this month

Books: I went on vacation to visit my dad in Florida and actually read (like, beach chair + SPF + fully immersed read). First up was The Conditions of Will by Jessa Hastings—I loved it. I’m a huge Magnolia Parks fan so it was such a treat to dive back into her voice. It’s poetic, sharp, and just so distinctly her. Then I picked up Problematic Summer Romance, which is officially going on my top list of beach reads. It’s spicy but sweet and everything you want in a friends-to-lovers book, especially if you’re in your delusional girl summer era. I also started an ARC of Iman Hariri-Kia’s Female Fantasy and even though I’m only about 10% in, I already know I’m going to be obsessed. Her voice is so fresh and specific, and the characters are delightfully messy in a way that feels too relatable. She uses humor and satire to tackle real issues, and I can’t wait to read more. Out in September!

TV: I’m deep in Love Island (duh). I was a big fan of season 6, so I wasn’t sure how this one would compare. Even though it started a little slow, I’m fully invested now like the rest of America. My current favorite couples change daily but I’m loving Cierra and Nic, Iris and TJ, and Pepe and Gracyn (can we PLEASE get them more screen time?). Once I turn in this round of revisions, I’m planning to start the We Were Liars series. That book absolutely wrecked me in 2020 and I’m very curious to see how they adapted it! But until then, I’m trying to keep my screen time low so I can actually hit my deadlines.

Music: Megan Moroney’s 6 Months Later is on repeat and ruining my life in the best way. No notes. Otherwise, it’s been a quiet month musically—send me recs if you’ve got any!

Quality over quantity: why friendship breakups hit harder than you think

One of the main themes in How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle is friendship—how it shapes us, how it breaks us, and how it evolves as we grow. I think we talk a lot about romantic heartbreak in our twenties, but not enough about the friendships that quietly fall apart. Sometimes it’s a slow drift. Other times, it’s a massive blow-up you didn’t see coming. And then there are the ones that just stop. No explanation. No closure. Just an unsaid goodbye you keep replaying in your head, wondering if they ever noticed the silence too.

Writing this book made me realize how much I’ve grieved friendships in my own life. People I thought would be around forever who slowly became strangers. Group chats that went quiet. Friends who knew every version of me until one day, they didn’t. And I get it people grow and change. We move, we change jobs, we get into relationships, we go to therapy, we outgrow the dynamics that once felt like home. But even when it’s for the best, losing a friend still hurts.

Lately I’ve been thinking less about how many people I can invite to a birthday dinner and more about who I’d call when my world falls apart. I don’t need a crowd. I just need a few people I trust with the messy, unfiltered, middle-of-the-night parts of me.

So if you’re in a season of shifting friendships, just know: it’s okay to let go. It’s okay to grieve what was. And it’s more than okay to choose quality over quantity—especially in your twenties.

My thoughts on AI in publishing (and why I’ll never use it to write a book)

There’s been a lot of discourse lately about AI in the publishing world. Authors being called out. Readers feeling duped. People trying to draw the line between “inspiration” and full-blown automation. And honestly? It makes me sad.

I’ve been writing my second book for a year and a half now. There should never be a rush to push out another book or to become a published author. You should want to write to tell your story, not to use it as a way to make a quick buck because if there’s anything you should know about the publishing world it’s that it’s slow and there’s hardly any money in it. Writing is hard! It’s time-consuming. It’s emotional. It can feel impossible some days. But that doesn’t make it okay to let a robot write for you.

I don’t use AI to write my books. I never will. Storytelling is personal. It’s your own voice, perspective and emotion. It’s showing up to the page with your specific lived experience and finding the words to make someone else feel seen. That can’t be generated.

All of that being said, I do think AI has a place in the writing world—just not the creative one. Grammar tools, in my opinion, are fine. Especially for indie authors, debut writers, or anyone who doesn’t have access to expensive editorial resources. Everyone deserves the chance to tell their story with clarity and confidence. But writing a novel is art and art should never be outsourced to a machine.

So if you’re someone who feels behind because you’re still figuring out your plot or struggling through revisions, just know: you’re doing it right. Your mess, your voice, your words are the parts that readers will connect to. Not perfection. Not polish. Just you.

Hot Girls Who Write: a community

If you’re new here, Hot Girls Who Write is my creative community for writers who are romanticizing the process, one chaotic draft at a time. It’s for the girlies (of all genders) who are tired of writing alone, who want accountability without pressure, and who want to make more friends in the writing/bookish space!

This month, we’ve got three virtual write-ins (July 1, 15, and 29) where we log on, introduce ourselves and then work on our novels, newsletters or even just journal. We’re also hosting our July workshop on How to Build Your Author Brand (July 22), which is perfect if you’re looking to stand out online, attract your dream readers, or finally feel less cringe about self-promo. I’ll walk you through what’s worked for me (and what hasn’t), share examples, and help you figure out how to build a brand that actually feels like you.

If you want to join, you can sign up over on Patreon for full access—or just follow along on Instagram to see what we’re up to. This community has quickly become one of my favorite parts of being a writer, and if you’ve been waiting for a sign to start this is it. Come write with us!

🩷

Alissa